The online racing simulator
fps problem
1
(44 posts, started )
fps problem
Hello,

because of my bad Internet-Connection I predominantly play
Live for Speed offline. But since I bought a new system I have
massive problems with the FPS-Rate.

The FPS-Rate is about 10-17 FPS at the start (LX6 on South City,
last place in the grid for example). Under 15 FPS my speakers start
to "crack" and when I have less than 13 FPS the sound starts to stutter.
When I´m alone on the track the FPS-Rate is about 75-92 frames.

I´ve also tested to drive online (Blackwood, 8 cars on the track) the
average FPS-Rate is 75.

My PC:

- Asus P 5WDH Deluxe (Wifi)
- Core Duo D 805 (Smithfield)
- NVidia 7600 GT (256mb)
- 2x 1024 SKill 6400 -800
- Creative SB0350 Audigy 2 ZS Sound Card
- SAMSUNG HD300LJ (S-ATA)
- WDC WD16 00JB-00G
- HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GSA-H20L
- NEC DVD_RW ND-2500A

- XP Pro (SP2) incl. all new patches

- All drivers are up to date. I also tested other drivers for the 7600GT.

I tested unsuccessfully:

- all possible graphicconfigurations in LFS
- all resolutions my monitor supports
- mirrors off
- Textdatafile (card/config) new created
- old drivers of the 7600GT cleaned with a driver-cleaner before I´ve installed new drivers
- AA/AF on/off
- different sizes of the swapfile
- downloaded a new LFS (0.5U), and installed it in a new data file
- changed the PCI-Latenz-Timing from 64 to 32 in the BIOS
- USB-Speed "high" in the BIOS
- installed Dual-Core Patch (KB 896256) installed and activeted in the Registry
- Boot.ini changed to "usepmtimer"
- changed LFS to Core 1/2 in the taskmanager

---------------------------------------------------------------------- -

- the taskmanager doesn´t show any programmes which cost much performance
- temperatures (VGA/CPU/HDD´s/Board) are in the normal range
- 3DMark05 -> 5827 points
- ALL THE OTHER GAMES (GTL/GTR²/RBR) RUN WITHOUT PROBLEMS!

- what I didn´t checked until now: current BIOS-version is "701". I will update it when i have a new FDD
(I live in Crete, Greece and its not easy to get parts for your computer here...

Thanks a lot for your help!

Speed-piet
Hi!

I'm sorry I can't provide the one and only solution.

I think, it's best to turn off and to remove any unnecessary card, usb-device, ...

Sometimes, stupid hardware can do the worst things to a pc.


Just for example: I had once the problems, that my DVD-Burner burned a lot of crappy DVDs. So first thing I tried, was buying another brand of DVD-Rs. Problems still existed. So I exchanged the DVD-Burner, problems existed. I tested my DVD-Burner / DVD-R combination in a mates PC, no problems here.
So I started to strip my PC down. Finally, it was an older SCSI-Card that seemed to somehow lock the PCI-Bus...


Why do you need a floppy-drive for a bios update? If it is because of the stupid tools you get from the manufacturers and need to write the data to drive A:, there a exists a "Virtual Floppy Driver", that does the trick. The data is written to an image that can be burned as bootable CD-RW.

I can look for a link to this driver, as it was quite hidden in the www.

Regards
Jens (Red Runner)
watch out for ur cpu, dont run cpu hungry apps in the background because lfs needs ALOT cpu.
@ boosted -read my post...

@ Red Runner - I´ll try to update the BIOS with "vdf 21". Hope it works...
`Stupid hardware´: The only hardware I took -unsuccsessfully- off, was the soundcard.
If I can´t solve the problem with the new BIOS, I´ll put my PC in pieces...

THX!
Quote from speedpiet :@ boosted -read my post...

@ Red Runner - I´ll try to update the BIOS with "vdf 21". Hope it works...
`Stupid hardware´: The only hardware I took -unsuccsessfully- off, was the soundcard.
If I can´t solve the problem with the new BIOS, I´ll put my PC in pieces...

THX!

i did read ur post, but alot processes arent active when u have the task manager opened.
wierd thing, windows crap.
i remember having an app just a lil background app and as soon as i started playing it gave me 100% cpu usage, but when i opened the task manager it was to 0 again.
had to kill almost all processes few times to find out which 1 was causing that.
Yes, don't look at the tab marked "Applications" but the tab marked "Processes". A friend of mine was looking at his dad's new computer just the other day. He said it had 68 processes running in the background :jawdrop: . Said under the performance tab, CPU Usage and PF Usage was showing around 80% at idle. Of course that was a shelf bought system, probably Dell, Compaq, or HP. I had days worth of figuring out all the processes and disabling them when I had Compaq. Really, freaking Windows programming allowing others to access your PC remotely was default to ENABLED!!!!!! Freakin lunacy.

Start>Run>services.msc is a good utility for checking out the processes. Much better than msconfig. You can google all the names listed in the processes as well and get decent descriptions of them to see if you want to disable. Stuff like MS Office, Winzip, camera software, realplayer, quicktime and many others will all half load in the background when installed bogging the system down. Drives me crazy. They do this saying it's to load the software faster as it is already half loaded, but then with all that half loaded, it bogs windows down to where nothing loads and runs fast.
@ mrodgers-
Of course I checkt the runing processes. Even "virtual ram". (->pic)
It´s a lot... but I don´t think to find the reason for my problem there- other games (GTL/GTR/RBR...) ar running perfect.

@ Boosted- (->pm)


@ Red Runner-
Can´t make a bios-update with "Virtual Floppy Drive"... Don´t know why..
Attached images
Taskmngr.jpg
i see u have skype running...thats a real cpu eater, although its shows 0% usage it still slows down ur system.
Use teamspeak for ingame voice chat
lol SpeedPiet, 48Tasks running.
That´s like 30 Tasks too much, if you compare with lowest rate.

up to 30 running Tasks is normal.
48 are way too much.

I know you can talk german, so try this:
Start/Ausführen "msconfig" eingeben ENTER
DAnn auf Systemstart, und dort alle Häckchen entfernen.
ÜBERNEMEN, und PC neustarten.
Danach nochmal testen ob LFS besser läuft.

On that way, ypi stop a lot of background-programms.
If it solves your problem, you have a hint.
And if you have stopped programs you like to use, just go there again, and mark them to start at startup.
Well, I have 37 processes running, and LFS is doing fine. What happens if you run LFS in windowed mode and then look at the processes? Maybe resize the LFS window so you can completely see the taskmanager without going out of LFS focus.
Hmm, I have 18, and probably 6 of those are from having the other pc networked over and sharing the interenet connection. If I got rid of those which I don't need, I'd only have 12.

And, as I've said, many of those processes are stuff that half loads in the background stating that it allows the programs to load faster. When in fact, it just uses up precious resources unneccessarily. Unless you are currently using those programs, they should not be running.

I see soffice.bin, for open office. Are you using OpenOffice while you race?

Cthelper.exe - "It's purpose is to aid 3rd party developers create plugins/software for the card." Are you creating plugins for your soundcard while racing?

CameraAssistant.exe, used for additional camera configurations with Logitech QuickCams. Unless you are using this for racing, it could be shut down.

Rainlendar.exe - some sort of live weather update thing? You want to know what the weather is in LFS? We don't have rain yet, so it's always nice at the track, hehehe

LWEMon.exe for the Logitech profiler. Nothing you can do with the profiler that you can't do within LFS. Well, I guess that's wrong if you have a DFP and want to change the rotation stops. But that can be accomplished through the actual Windows Game Controllers as well. Useless resources being used.

Clipper.exe looks to me like some kind of VCD software (creating video CDs?) Doubt you could do that while racing.

lvcomsx.exe - another app. for the logitech camera. Can disable to race unless you need it for one of those free 'track ir' type programs.

ElkCtrl.exe - yet another for the logitech camera. See where this is going and why these processes bloat your system? Do you use this camera for everything you do on the computer?

khalmnpr.exe - for your logitech mouse configuration. Stuff like this just bloats your system. I've had stuff like this for mice, cameras, and stuff and it all works just the same going through windows>control panel to configure without having all these processes bog your resources.

pdvdserv.exe is a process belonging to PowerDVD which allows a user to plug in a remote control. So, you watch DVD's while you race? I could see why you would want a remote control so you didn't have to let go of the wheel and reach over for the DVD controls, hehe

lssrvc.exe is a process associated with the Light Scribe software from HP. Again, totally useless to have running unless you are currently scribing a CD/DVD.

soundman.exe - don't even need to look this one up. I have it and have disabled it. It's for your soundcard configurations which can be accessed via the control panel through windows.

ATKKBService.exe - more peripheral configurations. This one for the keyboard. Unneccessary to have running. Use Windows Control Panel again.

lvprcsrv.exe - more Logitech QuickCam configuration

wdfmgr.exe - Windows Media Player 10. Same as the others, just running in the background so it will load faster. That isn't an issue anymore with the speed of computers. Disable

soffice.exe - there's another one for OpenOffice.

I just listed 16 process that you don't need to be running all the time. I also see multiple firewalls and antivirus running. Are you paranoid about someone breaking into your computer? I see Windows firewall/antivirus, Norton, and ZoneAlarm to name a few, all running.

My computer is a Compaq AMD A-64 3500 with only onboard ATI Xpress200 256 shared graphics and 1 gig Ram. When I bought it, my frame rate was horrendous. I'm talking less than 10 FPS. I went through the 30+ processes I had running and whittled it down to 11 or 12. I gained a few from setting up the other computer to share the internet connection. Depending on what resolution and AA/AF I have set for my onboard graphics, I can get from 40-50 FPS to 80 FPS. The only FPS problem I have now is right at the race start with 15+ cars where I can dip below 20 until around T2 and the field spreads out. I have dynamic LOD and the multiplayer speedup option in LFS turned up to help that. It may look like I am starting a race against 15 or more cardboard boxes, but it clears up by turn 2 and I'm happily running again at around 40-50.

Couple those 16 processes I listed with the 10-12 I count for firewall/antivirus and you probably could knock your processes down into the 20's by only choosing one type of firewall/antivirus. Norton is the one I would ditch.

Hope that helps you out because it took a long time to google search all those processes, hehe. Oh yea, and use 'start>run>services.msc' like I mentioned above. You can see all possible processes, start/stop them, and set them for automatic/manual/disabled starting from there. Everything that is in your process list now is probably set to "automatic" which is why they will start every time you boot your computer. At least the ones I list, you can set to "manual".

Good luck.
#13 - CSU1
I, having a slow machine(laptop) allways shut down all unecessary applications allways 19.
btw "spools.exe" I understand to be a printer file sharing app, so why does it allways start up when it's not needed?
And what is svchost???
Attached images
WTM.JPG
Quote from CSU1 :I, having a slow machine(laptop) allways shut down all unecessary applications allways 19.
btw "spools.exe" I understand to be a printer file sharing app, so why does it allways start up when it's not needed?
And what is svchost???

svchost makes u able to go online
try it, end it....no connection to the net
for unneeded processes there r a few apps out there that makes selcting / deselcting these easy, xp-antispy helps to clean up ur system and make it faster, but it doesnt remove unneeded processes.
although i have such an app, i dunno what its called atm maybe i find out later.
btw, warrock sucks
enemy territory ftw!
back to topic
#15 - CSU1
Quote from [RCG]Boosted :svchost makes u able to go online
try it, end it....no connection to the net
for unneeded processes there r a few apps out there that makes selcting / deselcting these easy, xp-antispy helps to clean up ur system and make it faster, but it doesnt remove unneeded processes.
although i have such an app, i dunno what its called atm maybe i find out later.
btw, warrock sucks
enemy territory ftw!
back to topic

Thanks for the advice, but really "you clould eat your dinner off my Windows Registry" .Another way is to go through all the win svs. which I did and disabled 90% of em' , has to help I guess.
Update:

First of all- THX a lot mrodgers !!! (no... not for the comments!)
btw- definitely I don´t have Norton! (I don´t have to say anything about 2 virus-scanners on one pc...) Also Windows Firewall is disabled!

- currently I have "only" 26 programms running
- new BIOS
- disabled Skype

But -the f***** fps are the same!


Regards,
speedpiet
Quote from speedpiet :btw- definitely I don´t have Norton!But -the f***** fps are the same!

Sorry, I saw "nvsvc32.exe" which I mistook as "Navw32.exe"

nvsvc32 is for your NVidia card and the Navw32 is Norton. My mistake. I have Norton installed but disabled. It is quite the pain to completely remove. Every time I open something in MS Office, Norton starts and wants to scan it, but since half of it is uninstalled it does nothing and I have to go to the task manager and end it twice. Real PITA.

With an actual separate graphics card, I wouldn't think you would have to do this, but.... Go to your advanced settings of the display properties and click on the troubleshoot tab. You will see a slider for "hardware accelleration". I had to knock this down one click for my PC. Also, under Start>Run>dxdiag you can go to the sound tab and you will see "Hardware Sound Accelleration Level" and you can move this slider down to see if that helps. I'm not gauranteeing anything from those, but they might help.

Question, is this a shelf bought system such as Dell, Compaq, HP...? Mine is (Compaq) and it took me something like 2 or 3 weeks to sort it all out before I was able to run LFS on it. In fact, you could search for posts from me back in February (I think) and see all my questions on pretty much the same thing you're asking here.

Edit: I just reread your first post and realize now that you are running offline. I'm guessing also with many AI cars since you say "When I´m alone on the track the FPS-Rate is about 75-92 frames." Also you say FPS was fine testing online. AI cars dramatically decreases performance because your cpu is busy calculating not only the physics from your car, but all the physics from the AI as well. The AI is the biggest downfall of LFS. I know that doesn't help much, but I'm not sure what to do then when racing with AI, then by yourself or online all is well .
Hi Mike,

thanks a lot -again- for your help!

No, it´s not a shelf bougth system...
But I´ll have a look at your February post!


(Btw- on my Notebook (Asus A6JA/ 1,66 Dual-Core/ x1600/ 1024 DDR2) LFS is running without problems!)


Edit:
"Hardware Sound Accelleration Level" is on minium- frames are the same! ****!!!!!!!!!
Now I really don´t know, what to do....

maybe the devs have an idea
Have you already tried to remove any unnecessary hardware?

I know, that these kind of incompatibility problems shouldn't exist, but they do.
I once had a mainboard (long ago, K6/2 300) that simply didn't want to run well with my Voodoo Banshee. The board together with a tnt was ok, as well as the graphics card in any other board. But the combination I had simply didn't work well (no graphic problems, but massive performance problem in some, not every application / game).

So I really encourage you again to remove every unnecessary hardware, including the wheel (for testing purposes). Maybe you'll find a conflict that may be solved afterwards...

Just my opinion..
Jens (Red Runner)
Quote from Red Runner :..remove every unnecessary hardware, including the wheel (for testing purposes). Maybe you'll find a conflict that may be solved afterwards...
Jens (Red Runner)

Hi Jens,

I´ll try your hint next days, because I´m really tired of the problem..
Maybe I play GTL... that works and don´t kill my nervs!

Thx!

Piet
I removed all USB devices...
I disessamblet my PC- piece after piece I removed any device (DVD, CD, 2. HDD, soundcard, ...) not even one fps more! Except after I took of the soundcard-> 3 FPS more..... (lfs without sound?) illepall

In the meantime I oc my "D 805" (2,66) up to 3,06. .... -with no effect!


:wtf2: WHY LFS HAS NOT A HELL OF A LOT FPS ???!


Since 2 weeks I try to solve the problem....

What else I could do??


Regards,
Piet
Maybe create a new Windows account and disable all non-Microsoft services and all autostart apps via msconfig.
A new account for a `maybe´?? I have had enough "maybe´s" ...

Seriously- I think that your tip is without effect, because everything was fresh installed!
Other apps. and games are running perfect!
Why this problem is only with LFS?
Quote from Red Runner :Hi!
The FPS-Rate is about 10-17 FPS at the start (LX6 on South City,
last place in the grid for example)
(...)
When I’m alone on the track the FPS-Rate is about 75-92 frames.
(...)
I’ve also tested to drive online (Blackwood, 8 cars on the track) the
average FPS-Rate is 75.

So the problem is only when playing against ΑΙ bots?

Have you tried updating to test patch U20?


It’s clear that there is not a performance problem… you have a Core Duo processor it is possible to capture video while playing lfs… (the cpu code must be 6xxx or else it is not core duo)
1

fps problem
(44 posts, started )
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